What else do smart people like the ones in this forum do with such VPNs? It did happen once or twice in my life that I’d want to see something that was restricted to IPs from another country so that’s probably not a good reason to spend those ~2.5 chf/month
I use it mainly for security reasons: when my phone joins a third party wifi (e.g. hotel wifi) nordvpn auto-connects.
- Setting up accounts abroad as e.g.:
– Netflix Ultra: through Turkey it’s TRY 299.99 per month (ca. CHF 7.45). Descending due to inflation.
– Amazone Prime Video: through Turkey it’s TRY 39.00 per month (ca. CHF 0.96). Also cheaper per month. - When setting up a temporary driving licence for Japan, I used a VPN since Japan did not allow to apply from abroad.
- Access to websites, which are restricted in CH / Access to websites in CH, which are restricted when being in holiday.
- As @dr.coffee mentioned couple of minutes ago: access through an additional spot (one can discuss, if it is safer to route through NordVPN or through the hotel WIFI). But when being in Sri Lanka, I felt much safer to access through NordVPN on my banking apps.
- Due to company restrictions one is not allowed to access services as the e-mail account when being outside DACH. I needed urgently a contact, so I activated NordVPN and had access to my mail account (did not get a call from HR/IT yet, lol).
EDIT: when booking flights, I only use Swoodoo - I am done with researching for hours on different websites. I check the rates at Swoodoo and in a lot of cases, booking directly at the airline is not much more expensive than taking the most sketchy provider.
For hotels I use booking(dot)com. When I find a nice hotel, then I check the hotel website - 50:50 that booking at the hotel directly is cheaper than booking(dot)com.
For rental cars I use googlemaps and just check the nearest car rental to the airport I arrive and then I book online.
Actually I don’t use online services like Netflix or similar. I did already use a VPN with my Fritzbox in Switzerland when wanting to watch Swiss Television.
So no, for me the NordVPN will be used only as a precaution for pineapples (wifi routers that may be used to hack you). I could not repeat the good deal I had with EasyJet on an Easter weekend flight from Switzerland to Spain.
I’ve never done that, but I suppose you can use it with Steam.
The most important reason, I need to have access to Polymarket to bet on U.S. recession.
It’s blocked in CH (via DNS) but works through NordVPN*.
*Yes, I know it can also be solved without VPN (changing to a DNS server that doesnt block them).
Interesting site, 40% chance of a recession is the actual bet.
Just checked with my home VPN in Switzerland: site is blocked there.
You can also use the wifi of your local public library to access the site. I think because of freedom of research or whatever, such sites are not blocked in libraries ![]()
Tunnelbear is a decent alternative to NordVPN that has a free plan (not unlimited though)
- If I am abroad and need a Swiss IP-Address: I have Tailscale on my Apple TV installed. This means I can use the Apple TV as an exit node and thus have a free VPN to my home.
- Otherwise I don’t use a VPN. I think VPNs for WLANs are outdated advice. Nowadays, all websites have HTTPS/TLS, so there’s no need for a VPN in WLANs. I have even deactivated the use of HTTP in my Firefox and have not noticed any disadvantage.
I use it to subscribe to netflix, google one, disney+, chess.com and spotify in other countries wayyyy cheaper than Switzerland.
lol
Either I"m doing something really wrong, or the guys at Tunnelbear thinks that CH = china
pathetic?
Do I understand correctly that you only need ‘to be in Turkey’ to buy the subscription? And watching can happen from anywhere in the world?
Correct. The shows you are able to watch depend on the country you are currently in.
When being in Bali, I could not continue watching Homeland ![]()
I have netflix with Nigeria. Ultra for 4 chf per month.
Airlines typically have a certain number of tickets available for a certain price. Once they sell out the cheaper tickets, the price you see increases.
At a few occasions I’ve noticed that once you start the booking process, some airline websites “reserve” your ticket, and as a result the price that other users see already increases, even if you didn’t complete the booking. The price then goes back down after some time (e.g. 30 min) when this “reservation” expires, if that ticket is not actually bought.
So this is one possible explanation how you might have seen a cheaper flight from Spain: maybe you were looking at the last ticket at this price point. If you notice this discrepancy the next time, try searching for the same flight again in a fresh incognito/private window, again from Spain, and see if the price has increased there too.
It could have of course been anything completely different, and different airlines can have different quirks.
This is one of the biggest problems I see now when booking a ticket. It goes even further. When you look at a flight of let’s say Milan to Olbia with a site like kayak or skyscanner, Airlines like Aeroitalia will detect a lot of search requests coming from travel agents like opodo and the like. The Airline then either reserves tickets or increases the price and as mentioned above there is no way to get the best price anymore, even when you haven’t really started the booking process. You can however wait a day and the old price comes back.
I really don’t understand why competing airlines don’t make automated requests 24/7 so that companies using this model are forced to stop eventually.
Another problem is “oops this price is not available anymore” in the middle of the process. Sometimes this goes as far as Qatar (booked on their website) who would revert a Credit Card payment already made and say that they could not book the seat for this price
Currently in China and NordVPN not working. Just in case anyone interested. Support also useless. Ai generated answers
Can you try ProtonVPN and let us know? (no need to pay, as there is basic free offering)